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Software Engineering vocabulary · Machine Learning and Data Processing

Sample size

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCore term

In software engineering, sample size means: The number of observations, people or units included in a sample or an experiment; larger samples usually give more reliable estimates.

In Turkish: örneklem büyüklüğü, örneklem hacmi

How it is used

You calculate, increase or reach the required sample size. Before an A/B test, analysts estimate the sample size needed to detect an effect of a given size. Often written as n, as in 'n = 1,200'.

Example sentences

  1. With this sample size we can only detect a lift of 5% or more.

  2. The sample size is too small to say anything about users over 65.

Common collocations

  • calculate the sample size
  • small sample size
  • required sample size
  • sample size calculator
  • sampleA smaller group selected from a larger population or dataset and studied in order to draw conclusions about the whole.
  • statistical powerThe probability that a test will detect an effect of a given size if that effect really exists; tests are commonly designed to have 80% power.
  • A/B testAn experiment in which users are randomly split into two groups that see different versions of something, so you can measure which version performs better.
  • confidence intervalA range of values, calculated from sample data, that is likely to contain the true value; a 95% interval comes from a method that captures the true value 95% of the time.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Machine Learning and Data Processing

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